HA is run as non-profit. The server bill is picked up by a member of the administration. Revenue from the ads have varied heavily during HA's lifetime but rarely surpass server costs significantly.

Moderators and admins (as listed in the link above) handle most issues autonomously, while conflict escalation is usually handled by consensus, which is rarely ever hard to reach. There is no rigid hierarchy, however it is natural that the word of the most senior and most active people have more weight. The admins and mods are self-appointed based on mutual trust and active involvement with the site; many since the beginning 10 years ago.